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"US Polar Bear Researcher Cleared of Scientific Misconduct"

"The Obama administration has wound up its controversial investigation of a government polar bear researcher without finding any evidence of scientific wrongdoing, campaign groups said late Friday."

"However, the scientist, Charles Monnett, who was the first to draw attention to the dangers to polar bears in a warming Arctic, was reprimanded for forwarding official email to a local government official and a fellow researcher at the University of Alaska without prior authorisation.

Campaign groups described the findings as a victory for Monnett, who until last year oversaw much of the government's scientific work in the Arctic. It was also an embarrassment for the Obama administration, whose two-and-a-half-year investigation uncovered no evidence of major wrongdoing."

"Arctic researchers and environmental campaigns saw the investigation of Monnett as an attempt to discredit or sideline government scientists."